Comments on: Moroccan Style Preserved Lemons

By: Marketman

Marketman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:56:51 +0000

emsy, I just checked the fridge, and the last remnants of this batch are still there, nearly 18 months old, and they are a honey yellow, not brown or cappucino. While I am not a preserved lemon expert, I wouldn’t be thrilled with brown lemons…

By: emsy

emsy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:53:33 +0000

MM, question…a friend of mine who’s mother is Moroccan sent me a jar of homemade preserved lemons last Christmas and up to now I only consumed like half of it, but after a month or two they looked darker (as in as brown as, say, capuccino). did your preserved lemons turn brown as well? or should I toss the jar out already?

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:55:36 +0000

Elise. Buy ten lemons. Blanche five and slice and put in bowl and mix with salt. With the remaining five lemons, you will need juice to completely submerge the brined lemon slices. After you have put the lemon slices in your jar, use enough juice to cover them completely… in the case above, I ended up using 3 lemons worth of juice… hence 8 total. But that depends on the size of your storage vessel.

By: Elise

Elise — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:10:30 +0000

So are there 10 lemons total – wash 5 and blanch the other 5, or 5 lemons in total?

By: adulaamin

adulaamin — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:15:43 +0000

I freeze the wedges overnight instead of blanching them. I use kosher rock salt for my preserved lemons.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sun, 18 May 2008 00:00:51 +0000

linda, are you referring to some miso paste with that sashimi? with the lemon rind, that sounds brilliant! chi, meyer lemons have a gentler, less acidic taste, a cross between a lemon and a mandarin… so yes, I can see how they would be nice in a preserved form. But I suspect the moroccan versions use non Meyer lemons… Toping, I have seen kalamansi preserved in sugar, but not in salt… hmmm, I wonder if it would work… mojito drinker, it tastes like a smoother but salty less acrid lemon rind. Very intense flavor, but not incredibly bitter as fresh lemon rind would taste. Quillene, I don’t know for sure if the pickling brine can be re-used. But since salt is rather cheap, I would go for a new batch with daing, etc. Unless of course you are aiming for getting the residual lemon flavor onto the fish on purpose…

By: linda

linda — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:20:31 +0000

MM,try sashimi served with miso and slivered preserved lemon rinds,it’s delicious!

By: chi

chi — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:34:13 +0000

As far as re-using the brine, my cookbook says that the lemons will keep up to a year unrefrigerated and that the pickling juice can be re-used 2 or 3 X over the course of a year. It’s probably safe to assume it can be used for re-cycled for marinating!

I used up my preserved lemons much quicker than a year so I didn’t get to test the year duration bit.

By: chi

chi — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:22:41 +0000

When I went thru a tagine phase, I made a batch of preserved lemons. Only because the recipe was so simple and store-bought were extremely hard to find and soooooo expensive. All the recipes I looked up specified using Meyer lemons which are sweeter and less acidic than the normal lemon. Did you use Meyers MM or did you just use regular lemons? I’m curious because Meyers aren’t always as readily available as the regular lemons.

The recipe I used also called for optional cinnamon stick, coriander seeds, cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaf. The jar I purchased did have some of these floaters but I think my batch tasted a heck of a lot better than theirs – so there!

By: brownedngat

brownedngat — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:18:33 +0000

Truly add incredible flavor to any tagine recipes. I must say there is no need to boil/blanch the lemons. Try adding cinnamon stick, coriander seeds, peppercorns and bay leaf. I preserve my lemons for at least 30 days and it’ll keep to a year.